Get boo’d up for winter via two new apps on the Raleigh scene rising in popularity.
The leaves are falling, the weather is cooler and everyone you know is about to start posting pics curled up next to “bae.” As cuffing season begins, we decided to dive into the online matchmaking scene to suss out two new dating apps to Raleigh firsthand. Here, our take on each.
Hily
Hily—an acronym for “hey, I like you!”—has been around since 2017, but is just now gaining traction in Raleigh. Similar to Tinder and boasting 22.5+ million users overall, the app aims to make it easier to meet people and forge both casual and long-term relationships.
A three-month membership plan rings up at a pricey $74.99, but we found you can just as easily land a date with the free features offered. To boot, you can like others’ profiles and start convos through instant messaging, voice chat and video call. Who doesn’t love anti-catfish features?!
In order to create a Hily profile, we weren’t required to do a personality quiz or compatibility questions—just our name, gender and three pictures. Unlike Tinder, we weren’t required to match with other users in order to chat. Read: There might be some unwanted creeps up in your inbox.
Our hot take? Hily is for anyone here for a good time, not a long time. You’ll more than likely land a date… but find the love of your life? TBD.
Hatched
If you aren’t a fan of swiping right and would rather “make matches with your personality,” Hatched may be the better app for you. We took a chance on this newly launched dating app, which (arguably) unlike the others, prioritizes personality over appearance. Read: Your match is an egg you have to crack piece by piece—at 25% increments. Yes, an egg—hence the name. (It’s giving Love Is Blind energy in app form.)
When starting out, you choose a photo (which will be hidden behind the egg) and a few adjectives that best describe your personality that will allow the app to suggest matches. Upon “hatching” a match, you both answer specially curated questions to determine your compatibility and work up to the “big reveal” to garner “deep, long-lasting connections”—instead of, say, one-night flings.
We had multiple eggs stop at 25% unhatched, but supposedly there’s a way around that. … So if you think dating is already tough—this app may make it even tougher from our experience. Landing a match proves to be difficult, as having the same answers to multiple questions is harder than it seems. (Ditch the opposites attract mentality, apparently.) In order to hatch a match, you have to really want it.
Hot take? In short, Hatched is for serious relationship-seekers only. So to all you Raleigh singles out there looking to mingle and marry, may the odds be ever in your favor… but, also, old standbys like Bumble and Hinge may still be worth a swipe.
